Proxmox VE vs Nutanix AHV: Which Solution Is Right for You?

Choosing a hypervisor is a significant responsibility for any organization looking to implement a virtualization solution. Proxmox VE and Nutanix AHV are two widely used platforms, each offering a robust set of features and unique advantages. With so many capabilities to consider, selecting the option that best fits your needs can be challenging. This comprehensive Proxmox vs Nutanix comparison can help guide you toward the right decision.

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Core Differences Between Proxmox VE and Nutanix AHV

To understand the key differences between the two solutions, you should consider several aspects, including architecture, scalability, hardware compatibility, licensing and ease of management.

Underlying architecture

When comparing Proxmox VE vs Nutanix AHV, you should examine how these platforms are designed. The architecture of Proxmox VE and Nutanix AHV is different despite some similarities in hypervisor technology.

Proxmox VE is based on the KVM hypervisor to run virtual machines and LXC to run containers. A kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) is used for full hardware virtualization and supports running Windows, Linux and other guest operating systems on VMs. KVM is built into the Linux kernel, and Proxmox utilizes this advantage for high performance.

Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE) is a free, open-source solution that is generally affordable. It is ideal for specialists who prefer the “do it yourself” approach due to the highly customizable options. Manually configuring Proxmox VE and its advanced features may require more technical expertise and knowledge.

Nutanix AHV is a proprietary hypervisor built in a hyper-converged infrastructure platform. Nutanix AHV (Acropolis hypervisor) is designed to work seamlessly within the Nutanix hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) stack. The main objective of Nutanix developers is to create hyper-convergence and integrate computing, storage and networking in a unified platform.

AHV is a bare-metal hypervisor based on KVM built from scratch. It is designed specifically for the Nutanix environment. AHV is lightweight and highly optimized for integration with the Nutanix stack. The system is optimized to work out of the box since it is easy to provision resources for users and includes automated lifecycle management.

Performance and scalability

Performance is a key factor when choosing a virtualization solution. It is important to understand how each solution handles workloads and how scalable it is. The Proxmox vs Nutanix performance comparison can provide a clearer view.

Proxmox VE provides a high level of performance, but its approach is more flexible and depends on how it is configured. KVM-based virtualization provides near-native performance, which is ideal for running multiple VMs. The performance of KVM is excellent because it is integrated into the Linux kernel and has direct access to hardware resources.

LXC containers offer even better performance than VMs for certain types of workloads. This is possible because containers share the host’s kernel and don’t require the overhead of full hardware-assisted virtualization. This makes LXC attractive for lightweight, stateless applications, including those using the microservice architecture that needs high performance with minimal overhead.

Proxmox VE performs well, especially in environments with local storage and workloads that don’t require high-end enterprise features. However, its performance can be slightly lower in larger, distributed storage environments (such as Ceph), taking into account the complexity of setup and configuration.

Nutanix AHV can provide optimal performance with a focus on scalability and ease of use within a hyper-converged environment. Nutanix AHV uses the KVM hypervisor as its base but is highly optimized for the Nutanix platform. AHV is tightly integrated with the Nutanix Distributed Storage layer and is optimized for low-latency I/O (input/output operations). This feature allows you to achieve high performance for high-throughput and latency-sensitive workloads. AHV supports direct storage access for VMs to reduce latency and increase overall performance. This also minimizes the need for multiple layers of virtualization when accessing storage.

Nutanix AHV provides enterprise-class performance that’s highly optimized for distributed storage and networking. This makes it more suitable for large-scale environments that demand high performance, scalability and reliability. Nutanix automatically balances workloads and optimizes performance at the storage layer.

Scalability

Proxmox VE is a scalable solution, but the approach requires manual operations. It enables the creation of a cluster (up to 32 nodes) where multiple physical servers can be managed under one control plane. High availability is supported for VMs in a cluster in case of node failure. Corosync and Pacemaker are used to set up the high availability. Configuring load balancing is more difficult because no such feature exists out of the box.

Scaling requires setting up clustering manually, which can be complex in larger environments. The system has a centralized cluster manager to manage nodes and workloads, but as the environment grows, management can become more cumbersome. While Proxmox supports Ceph for software-defined storage, adding Ceph nodes requires careful configuration and tuning, which may lead to complexity when scaling.

Proxmox VE requires manual configuration and management as it scales, which is fine for smaller or medium-sized environments, but as the system grows, it may require more administrative effort. It does not have the same automatic scaling and resource optimization that Nutanix offers.

Nutanix AHV is designed to scale out easily with minimal manual intervention. This is one of Nutanix’s key advantages, particularly in enterprise environments. Linear (horizontal) scalability is available by adding more servers to a Nutanix cluster. As you add more nodes to a cluster, compute resources (CPU, RAM) and storage resources (capacity, IOPS – input/output per second) increase simultaneously, allowing for seamless expansion of the virtual environment.

Nutanix AHV provides seamless, automated scaling with provisioning that doesn’t require complex manual configuration. Its hyper-converged architecture makes scaling storage, compute and networking incredibly easy, while maintaining high performance and fault tolerance. This is attractive for large enterprises that need predictable performance as they scale. A Nutanix cluster supports high availability and load balancing.

Ease of deployment and management

When looking at the ease of deployment and management in the Proxmox vs Nutanix comparison, we should examine the user interface, automation options, initial setup complexity and post-installation administration.

Proxmox VE. The installation of Proxmox VE is straightforward. You need to download a bootable ISO image, write a bootable media, boot from this media and install Proxmox VE. A wizard with a pseudo-graphical user interface makes the installation process convenient. The alternative option is manually installing Proxmox VE on Debian by running commands.

A web interface is available right after installation. If you create a cluster with multiple Proxmox nodes, you can manage it in a unified web interface by connecting to any node. The web interface is user-friendly, but you can use the command line interface if you need more options to configure Proxmox hosts and clusters. An API (application programming interface) is available for more granular control and automation.

While the installation is not complex, network and storage configurations may require manual tuning, especially when setting up distributed storage (Ceph, ZFS) or clustering in large environments. Networking may require manual adjustments, especially in more complex environments with VLANs or bonded interfaces.

Nutanix AHV. The Nutanix installation starts by writing a bootable media using a special ISO image. The installation is slightly more manual, but Nutanix’s Prism Central platform can automate much of the deployment process. After finishing the installation, a cluster can be created automatically.

The initial setup of Nutanix AHV is designed to be highly automated, especially for customers using hardware provided by Nutanix. However, additional configuration may be required in environments where Nutanix is deployed on existing hardware or in multi-cloud environments.

Nutanix Prism (Prism Central UI) is a web interface that manages all Nutanix HCI resources, including AHV. It is used for managing both the virtualized infrastructure (compute and storage) and monitoring. The dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of the health, status, and performance of the environment, making it easy to spot issues. Nutanix also provides CLI and API access for automation and scripting, but Prism Central is the primary interface for most users.

Hardware and software compatibility

Hardware compatibility impacts the virtualization strategy because it defines which hardware the virtualization solution can be installed on, which devices are compatible and the impact on the future expansion of the virtual infrastructure.

Proxmox VE can be installed on most hardware. There is no specific vendor lock-in. The compatibility with a wide range of hardware is a strong advantage of Proxmox VE. Administrators can install Proxmox on existing hardware if they can’t upgrade or buy new hardware. This makes Proxmox VE a flexible solution, especially for small organizations and environments with customized hardware.

Proxmox VE requirements:

• Proxmox can be installed on a computer with any 64-bit Intel or AMD processor with Intel VT-x or AMD-V support.
• A minimum of 2 GB RAM is recommended for the system, but more memory is needed depending on the size of the virtual environment and the workloads you intend to run on VMs and containers.

Proxmox VE can integrate with a high number of storage solutions, including local storage and shared storage configurations:

• ZFS, Ceph, NFS, iSCSI, LVM and SAN storage setups.
• You can use software-defined storage solutions like Ceph or integrate with enterprise storage arrays.

Nutanix AHV hardware compatibility is tied to Nutanix’s certified hardware list, which includes both Nutanix-branded servers and certified third-party hardware. Typically, Nutanix solutions come pre-installed on Nutanix-branded servers (known as Nutanix Nodes), which are optimized for the hyper-converged infrastructure stack. Nutanix certifies third-party hardware from vendors like Dell EMC, HPE, Lenovo and Cisco.

Nutanix is typically considered more hardware-centric and enterprise-focused than Proxmox, which is more agnostic in terms of hardware compatibility. Nutanix strongly prefers certified hardware (mentioned in the hardware compatibility list), and using non-certified hardware or non-Nutanix hardware might lead to support issues or require additional configuration.

Nutanix requirements:

• Nutanix supports Intel Xeon or AMD EPYC processors. It is highly optimized for Intel Xeon Scalable processors.
• A minimum of 64 GB of RAM is recommended for small-scale environments. However, Nutanix recommends more RAM in production, often starting at 128 GB or higher.

Third-party storage systems like NFS, iSCSI and SAN are also supported, but the native Nutanix Distributed Storage (DFS) is heavily preferred. Nutanix provides access to the Nutanix Marketplace, where customers can download pre-built solutions and integrations for various software stacks.

NOTE: Nutanix provides an automated tool called Nutanix Move to simplify VM migration from VMware vSphere to Nutanix AHV.

Storage options

Storage options define how you can store VM files in a virtualization environment. Wider storage options provide more flexibility and convenience.

Proxmox VE supports local, shared and software-defined storage, which can be used to create datastores and store virtual machines.

Local storage is convenient for local environments with standalone Proxmox hosts in non-clustered and non-distributed environments. Proxmox supports a ZFS file system with volume management, providing high performance. ZFS offers features like data compression, encryption, snapshots and RAID-like functionality.

Shared storage support includes:

• NFS (Network File System). Proxmox supports NFS, a popular shared storage option for VMs, especially in Linux-like environments. It allows VM disks to be stored on shared network-attached storage. NFS is used to share data on a file level.
• iSCSI (Internet Small Computer Systems Interface). Proxmox supports iSCSI, which allows you to connect remote storage devices to Proxmox nodes over the network, similar to direct-attached storage. iSCSI is used to share data on a block level.

Software-defined storage:

• Proxmox has native support for Ceph, a distributed storage system that offers high availability, scalability and fault tolerance. Ceph provides scalability and redundancy across multiple nodes in the cluster by replicating data across nodes.

Virtual disk formats supported in Proxmox:

• RAW is a simple disk format with no overhead. It is the most basic format and is typically used for performance.
• QEMU QCOW2 is a more feature-rich disk format that supports snapshots, thin provisioning and encryption. It can be used as the native virtual disk format in Proxmox VE.
• VMDK is a native VMware virtual disk format. Since it is compatible with VMware, it allows for easy migration between Proxmox and VMware environments.
• VHD/VHDX is a Microsoft format compatible with Microsoft Hyper-V, enabling fast migration from Hyper-V to Proxmox VE.

Nutanix storage is designed for a hyper-converged infrastructure and high scalability, with built-in features for high availability, fault tolerance and performance. Nutanix nodes come with local storage used for caching. However, in a hyper-converged setup, this local storage is aggregated into a distributed pool for the entire cluster. Storage is virtualized and presented to AHV as a shared pool across all nodes in the cluster.

Features of Nutanix hyper-converged storage:

• The storage is distributed across multiple nodes and accessed directly by the AHV hypervisor.
• The Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric (DFS) is the main component of this architecture. DFS provides scalable, high-performance storage across a Nutanix cluster and is designed to automatically rebalance data across nodes as the environment grows.
• DFS offers auto-tiering, data replication and data redundancy. The storage fabric works seamlessly with Nutanix AHV and can scale horizontally by adding additional nodes.

Shared storage, such as NFS and iSCSI for file-level and block-level, is supported, but Nutanix hyper-converged storage is preferred.

Virtual disk formats supported in Nutanix:

• VMDK. Nutanix also supports VMDK disks for migration from VMware environments.
• VHD/VHDX. Nutanix supports VHD and VHDX for migration from Microsoft Hyper-V environments.
• NOVA. This is the native disk format used within Nutanix AHV. It is optimized for Nutanix’s hyper-converged infrastructure and supports advanced features like thin provisioning, live migration and snapshots.

Networking features

Networking features impact how you can connect virtual machines to physical or virtual networks, configure physical network adapters on hosts and configure networking in clustered environments to support VM migration, high availability and other features.

Proxmox VE supports a wide range of network features, including bridged networking, NIC teaming (or NIC bonding with Link Aggregation Control Protocol), VLANs and software-defined networking. Proxmox allows configuring multiple network interfaces for high-performance setups. Still, advanced software-defined networking (SDN) and large-scale networking management features are limited compared to a solution like Nutanix AHV.

Proxmox uses QEMU virtual NICs (vNICs) for virtual machines. These are typically virtio-based NICs (network interface controllers), providing better performance than emulated network cards. Virtual network adapters of VMs can be connected to virtual switches. Open vSwitch (virtual switch) integration provides additional networking flexibility and performance optimizations, especially in environments that require multi-tenant or segregated network configurations.

Proxmox supports multiple networking modes for virtual machines:

• Bridged networking connects the virtual network adapters of VMs to the same physical network as the Proxmox physical host. This network connection type is used by default after Proxmox installation.
• NAT networking allows you to connect virtual machines with each other or with the host and provides access to external networks, including the Internet. To enable NAT networking, you should perform manual configuration on a Proxmox host to create a bridged network and configure routing for this network. This configuration is performed in the command line. A DHCP server can be configured manually using the command line to conveniently assign IP addresses.
• Local host virtual networking allows VMs to communicate but doesn’t enable access to external networks. The configuration is similar to NAT networking but without configuring routing. Using the command line is required.

Nutanix AHV uses complex and integrated networking as part of its hyper-converged infrastructure. It also uses network virtualization with advanced software-defined networking features. AHV includes network overlays, VLAN tagging, and VXLAN (Virtual Extensible LAN) for scalable network segmentation and isolation across virtual networks. NIC teaming is supported. Like Proxmox, Nutanix AHV supports LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) for combining multiple NICs to achieve higher bandwidth and redundancy. NAT and virtual DHCP servers are available for VM networking.

Nutanix AHV integrates with VMware NSX or Nutanix Flow for network segmentation, allowing you to define virtual networks that span multiple physical hosts. Nutanix Flow is a software-defined networking solution integrated directly into Nutanix AHV. It enables micro-segmentation, which provides advanced firewall capabilities, network visibility and traffic filtering at the VM level.

Nutanix AHV offers advanced networking features with automated scaling as the HCI cluster grows. The network capacity expands automatically after adding nodes.

Nutanix AHV uses virtio-based virtual network interfaces (vNICs) for virtual machines, similar to Proxmox.

Licensing and costs

The licensing models of Proxmox VE and Nutanix AHV are totally different. The price of a virtualization solution can significantly impact the final choice in the Proxmox vs Nutanix comparison.

Proxmox VE is a free, open-source solution available to everyone. Organizations can pay for a subscription to access enterprise-level Proxmox software repositories with tested updates/patches and top-level support. The free solution includes all features (a hypervisor, web interface, clustering, high availability and built-in backup).

There are no limitations in terms of functionality, the number of nodes, or the number of virtual machines/containers. There is no commercial support for those who use Proxmox VE for free, but there is wide community support.

Four levels of paid Proxmox subscriptions are available:

• Community: €115/year & CPU socket.
• Basic: €355/year & CPU socket.
• Standard: €530/year & CPU socket.
• Premium: €1,060/year & CPU socket.

The price for a paid subscription varies depending on the number of sockets per node per year and the level of support.

The open-source model of Proxmox VE makes it attractive for businesses with budget constraints or those with the internal expertise to manage and configure their systems. When comparing Proxmox vs Nutanix pricing, the former is certainly more affordable.

Nutanix AHV and its licensing are tied to the entire hyper-converged infrastructure stack, which includes storage, networking and compute resources. Nutanix AHV itself is included in this package and while you can technically run AHV separately, it is most commonly licensed as part of the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud.

Nutanix’s licensing is subscription-based and dependent on a combination of:

• Capacity-based licensing. The licensing depends on the amount of resources you need (usually per CPU socket or node). You can license Nutanix based on processor cores, RAM or the number of nodes in your cluster.
• Nutanix Prism. Nutanix’s centralized management platform is also part of the licensed package.
• Nutanix AHV is bundled with its overall enterprise-grade virtualization solution and is included in the Nutanix Cloud Platform. There are no direct charges for AHV alone.

There are different licensing options which allow for customization based on organizational requirements and affect the total cost:

• Free Version. Nutanix offers a Community Edition, which is free for personal or non-production use, with limited scalability (up to 4 nodes and 128 GB of RAM per node).
• Standard Edition. This includes the core virtualization features, compute (hypervisor) and storage (Nutanix DFS). It is suitable for small businesses or remote office/branch office setups. Pricing starts around $10,000 per node (excluding storage capacity, which is often licensed separately).
• Pro Edition. Adds advanced features like data protection, replication and disaster recovery. This edition is typically suitable for medium-to-large organizations that need more robust solutions for business continuity and scalability.
• Ultimate Edition. Includes the full suite of features, including multi-cloud integration, disaster recovery, automation and analytics tools. Pricing for the Ultimate Edition can go up to $20,000 – $30,000 per node or higher, depending on the configuration and features.

Nutanix costs are often based on capacity (TB on disks or CPU cores), and the price increases with the size of the environment and the features included. Additional costs for storage capacity, cloud services and technical support can significantly add to the overall costs. Nutanix typically operates on a 3-year subscription model, with annual renewals for support and software updates.

Backup and disaster recovery features

Supported backup and recovery capabilities significantly impact the reliability of a virtual infrastructure. Advanced data protection features help reduce the risk of data loss and enable fast workload and data recovery.

Proxmox VE provides a built-in backup tool that allows users to back up both VMs and containers. The backups are stored in a compressed format and can be incremental, reducing storage space consumption. They can be stored locally, on network shares (NFS, SMB) or distributed storage systems like Ceph or ZFS.

You can schedule backups using the web or command line interface. As Proxmox VE provides APIs, Proxmox VM backup is supported by a dedicated data protection solution developed by third-party vendors.

Nutanix AHV provides an integrated, built-in backup solution as part of the Nutanix Data Protection (NDP) suite. Nutanix Backup and Restore integrates with the Nutanix filesystem (DFS). A backup scheduler and backup policies are available.

Nutanix Leap is an advanced disaster recovery solution integrated with Nutanix AHV. It allows businesses to set up disaster recovery plans, replicate workloads to remote sites and automate recovery in case of an outage.

Nutanix supports using third-party data protection solutions for backup and disaster recovery purposes.

When to Choose Proxmox VE?

Proxmox VE is the favorable choice in the following scenarios:

• You need a cost-effective solution due to budget constraints. You also need a reliable, high-performance freeware virtualization solution that runs both VMs and containers.
• You prefer open-source software with a transparent working principle. You need to connect virtual machines to custom virtual networks that can be manually configured.
• The size of the planned virtual environment is relatively small. Proxmox VE is also ideal for home labs.
• Flexibility in hardware and customization. Proxmox VE can be installed on most hardware and is not limited to specific vendor hardware.
• Maximum control is needed and manual configuration is not a problem. Proxmox can be fine-tuned to achieve maximum control, but it requires skills for manual configuration. If you and your team are well-versed in Linux and need a solution for diverse use cases, then Proxmox VE is the optimal choice.

When to Choose Nutanix AHV?

It is recommended to choose Nutanix AHV in the following scenarios:

• You need a virtualization solution supporting a hyper-converged infrastructure for high scalability in large environments.
• You need to manage a large number of virtual machines effectively without manually provisioning resources each time. Performance requirements are high and low-latency requirements are present.
• You need high availability and fault tolerance (with automatic VM failover) to balance workloads and reduce downtime. You need a reliable virtualization environment with self-healing options.
• Simplicity and automation are required. If you want a solution that simplifies management and reduces the need for manual intervention, consider choosing Nutanix AHV.
• Complex configurations of virtual networks with micro-segmentation, VXLAN support and routing.
• The price for branded hardware and Nutanix AHV software is not an issue.

Proxmox VE vs Nutanix AHV: Which One Best Fits Your Needs?

Choosing between Proxmox VE and Nutanix AHV depends mainly on the size of your organization, budget, technical expertise and specific requirements. The table below summarizes the information in this Proxmox vs Nutanix comparison and helps you select the optimal virtualization solution.

Conclusion

Proxmox VE is one of the most used Nutanix alternatives for building and running virtual machines. The choice between these two solutions may not be easy and a detailed Proxmox vs Nutanix comparison can help define the available features of each solution. This can help you select the platform that best fits your needs. Regardless of the chosen solution, make sure you protect your virtual machines to avoid data loss. Use NAKIVO Backup & Replication to back up VMs in Proxmox and Nutanix virtual environments.

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